Skilled urban investigators can sustain a survey of nearly content-less settings.

Evidence

Having first reached a position within the setting, the Investigator surveys his surroundings with some care. Then, having done this, he leaves his position to begin a minute investigation of every inanimate object in sight. Occasionally he returns to his initial position or establishes a new one, but most of his time is spent moving about. The Investigator is at his best, of course, if the setting is large and complex and presents a wide array of items for him to look at. But if the setting contains no such “lush growth,” he remains undaunted. A truly skilled Investigator can spend five minutes gazing at a sign which contains only three words. — Lyn H. Lofland, World of Strangers_ Order and Action in…, 892

Categorization

• CANDY: A skilled Investigator can spend five minutes gazing at a sign with only three words — a sly, tweetable image of urban pretense.
• QUESTION: The sign with three words being worth five minutes — is that pure Goffman stagecraft, or does it edge toward the inner attention-altering practice of flânerie? Worth untangling.